I ran my 2nd marathon. I’ve got another one coming up in October that has been my goal race this year so I thought this would be a good way to get a guaranteed long run in. Typically in marathon training your long run is 20 miles but what better way to prepare for 26.2 miles than to run 26.2 miles, right? Right.

So I decided to run the Quad Cities Marathon. This beauty was in Moline, IL but crosses into Iowa. So this coincides nicely with my goal to run a half marathon in each state since a marathon is two half marathons and this went through two states. Bam. (Again, changed this to just count as one).

I arrived in Moline on Saturday and headed to the expo. This particular race has something called a Pump N Run. Basically you have to bench press and bicep curl a set amount of weight based on your body weight. So I got the pleasure of getting on the scale in public and then was told I had to bench 75 lbs and curl 50 lbs. Now, I go to Body Pump pretty often but that is a low weight, high rep workout so I didn’t know how it would translate. I was able to bench 18 times and curl 5 times. I had no idea how that would compare to others but thought it was kind of a fun gimmick.

After the expo I headed to my hotel, which as an unexpected bonus was one block from the start line. I am terrible at planning out the details of the race weekend such as the hotel, so this was complete luck. Mostly I just find a race that looks cool, sign up, and then worry about the rest of the details later. I then figured out a place to eat that I could walk to. I picked it based on dessert. My plan was to eat healthy and order the dessert to go so I could eat it after the race on Sunday. They were out of both options I wanted. It was sad. Good thing I had packed Red Vines and Midnight Milky Ways in my luggage for just such a situation.

I spent the rest of the night watching Orange Is The New Black and resting for the next day. And laying out “flat Alicia”.

Sunday morning started in the 50s, which is basically perfect for running. I lined up with a pace group as I was trying to improve upon my first attempt and do a better job of keeping my mile times steady (I tend to go out too fast). My pacer was pretty awesome. Her name is Heather and she has run like 100 marathons. She said she ran 60 before getting her BQ. #goals

I was able to stick with her until mile 16/17 and then I started slowing down. There were some fun things to see along the way though that helped. Like a waterskiing dinosaur, Bennigans (I didn’t know they still existed and I really wanted to stop for a monte cristo), and I even found a drivers license on the ground that belonged to a lady named Madison from Arizona. I decided to pick it up and proceeded to run along and try to find her, and I did! I think she was almost as shocked as I was. I figured if I didn’t find the person I could give it to the race director once I finished but low and behold she was just a bit ahead of me. Talk about luck (for her that she didn’t have to deal with the hassle of finding her license and me for not having to speed up for too long trying to find her).

It got hot (70s) and I got tired. I was able to hold off on walking until mile 23 (other than through water stops, I don’t have the ability to run and drink simultaneously). It’s funny because I remember thinking about “the wall” that people always talk about at mile 20 and how I didn’t feel it. I was definitely suffering at mile 20 but just taking it a mile at a time and thinking I could make it. Well it hit at mile 23 for sure. I had to run/walk the last 5k (3.1 miles). Mentally/emotionally that was really difficult. I can run 3 miles pretty easily most days so to be unable to is pretty discouraging. However I had come too far, 23 miles to be exact, to not finish. I ended up coming in almost 18 minutes faster than my previous marathon so that was exciting. It was hard to enjoy it immediately though.

After I crossed the finish line someone from the race came up to me and asked if I was okay. I told him I wanted to sit down and could use some water. He said he thought I should go see medical. I figured it couldn’t hurt, all I cared about was not running any further at that point so was pretty open to anything that didn’t involve that. He took me up to medical and they checked me out. He told them he had watched me the last couple miles and that I looked dazed. They took my blood pressure and it was low and my heartbeat and I don’t even know what else they checked. They asked me if they could run an iv, I said sure, they stuck an iv in me to give me fluids, gave me a blanket, and I promptly fell asleep. The nurse came over a little later and woke me up. He laughed and said he had never seen someone fall asleep that quickly. Uh, I was tired thank you very much! Running for hours upon hours is not easy. There was also a lady there who had to drop out at mile 24. I can’t even imagine how she would feel after coming that far and not being able to finish. Anyways, the fluids were a big help. I got up after being there 30-45 minutes and felt so much better. I headed back to the finish line to get my snacks. I DO NOT leave a race without grabbing as much snacks as I can carry. And I got my sweet medal!

I then headed back to the hotel, got in the shower, and literally sat on the floor of the shower drinking chocolate milk. I couldn’t decide if I cared more about eating or showering at that point so just decided to do both. Multitasking at its finest. I was also attempting to deal with my hair. It has gotten horribly knotted while running. I have no earthly idea how that happens. I braid it to try and avoid it but alas, it continues to find a way to tempt me to shave my head.

I later found out that I placed 3rd in marathon women for the Pump N Run. The amount of reps you do counts as a deduction of your overall time. Probably the only time I will ever “win” anything in a marathon so that’s pretty cool. They are mailing me my award because of course I didn’t find out until after I flew out of Illinois.

The marathon is a tough distance. I am glad I improved my time and paced myself better but am clearly still learning and trying to figure this distance out and how to better handle it. But I’m also proud. I remember that less than two years ago I couldn’t run a mile without stopping. Now, who knows how far I’ll go?